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Putin launched India against the United States

04.10.2018

The privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India, flexibly adapting to the changing world, does not depend on the will of third countries and has a bright future.

An official visit to New Delhi on October 4-5 of Russian President Vladimir Putin is called to push it forward. Approximately 20 agreements in various fields for exorbitant sums were signed for the visit, which, in particular, provide for the acquisition of “sanctioned” military equipment from Russia: the latest missile defense systems, frigates and much more. The United States, which attempted to disrupt the military-technical cooperation between both countries for decades, carved out themselves as a result.

In addition to trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian issues, the negotiations will reflect a wide range of regional, international and global issues relating to the activities and interaction of Moscow and New Delhi in the framework of BRICS, SCO, the G20 and the UN. Joint activities will be discussed between the Armed Forces of both countries - a very important topic, given the fact that the Indian army is armed mainly with Russian weapons.

It will be the "Triumph"

The most important document to be signed during the visit, despite the warnings and gnashing of the United States, will be the contract to supply India with five regiments of Triumph S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. The amount of the transaction exceeds five billion dollars. Indian media reported that India will also purchase four new 11356 stealth frigates of invisibility from Russia for $ 2.5 billion.

Russia is expected to sign an agreement on cooperation and exchange of information in the field of manned space flight: India plans to put its first Gaganian spacecraft into orbit by 2022. India also expects to sign an agreement on the licensed production of AK-103 machines.

On the very eve of the visit, the press widely passed information about New Delhi’s plans to purchase 1,700 Armata tank platforms from Russia for $ 4.5 billion. And this is despite the fact that the backbone of the armored forces of India already consists of modern Russian T-90 tanks, the largest foreign buyer of which is India. It also builds its own tanks, but they are worse than Russian ones.

Threats

The implementation of these plans is a slap in the face of the United States, which continues to threaten India with sanctions for “violating” its domestic legislation (purchases of S-400 S-400 missiles fall under section 231 of the Law on Countering America's Opponents with Sanctions). However, as the New York Times rightly noted in this connection, “the Trump administration will have to choose: to punish India for violating sanctions or to make an exception in order to avoid deterioration of relations”.

Due to the fact that India, like China, is not going to grovel before the United States, and this country is also needed by the United States to create a counterbalance to China, this desire is unlikely to materialize. But this is the last thing for their own reputation - to come up with unrealizable threats.